Alex Phillips | |
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![]() Phillips in a 2019 political announcement | |
Member of the European Parliament for South East England | |
In office 2 July 2019 [1] – 31 January 2020 | |
Preceded by | Keith Taylor |
Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
Mayor of Brighton and Hove | |
In office 22 May 2019 – 15 May 2020 | |
Preceded by | Dee Simson |
Succeeded by | Alan Robins |
Personal details | |
Born | Liverpool, England, UK | 9 July 1985
Political party | Green Party of England and Wales (since 2003) |
Other political affiliations | Labour Party (2001–2003) |
Spouse | Tom Druitt |
Children | 2 |
Residence | Brighton |
Alma mater |
University of London Institute in Paris UCL Institute of Education |
Occupation | Politician |
Alexandra Louise Rosenfield Phillips (born 9 July 1985) is a British politician. She served as a Green Party Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South East England from 2019 to 2020. She was Mayor of Brighton and Hove from May 2019 to May 2020; the youngest person to hold the office. Phillips was a Brighton and Hove City councillor between 2009 and 2023.
Phillips was born on 9 July 1985 in Liverpool, Merseyside, to Roger Phillips and Margaret Rosenfield. [2] [3] She is of Jewish heritage. [4] Her father worked as a presenter for BBC Radio Merseyside for 42 years before retiring in 2020. [5] Her younger sister, Ellie Phillips, works as a television presenter and journalist. [6] [7]
Brought up in Liverpool, Phillips was initially a Labour Party activist with her mother, joining the party at the age of 16. [8] In 2003 she resigned from Labour and joined the Green Party as a result of the then Labour government's decision to invade Iraq. [9] She holds a bachelor's degree in French Studies from the University of London Institute in Paris and a PGCE from the UCL Institute of Education. [10]
Phillips moved to Brighton in 2008. [11] She was elected to represent the Goldsmid ward on Brighton and Hove City Council in a 2009 by-election, [12] and re-elected in 2011. [13] In subsequent council elections she contested the Regency ward, winning a seat in both 2015 and 2019. [14] [15] She became Brighton's youngest mayor in 2019 after being selected for the role by her fellow councillors. [16] [17] [18] She finished her term as mayor in May 2020. [19] Outside of her council roles, she has worked as the policy lead at the HIV and sexual health charity, Terrence Higgins Trust, and as a French and German language secondary school teacher in Croydon, London, and later Hampshire. [10] [17] [20] In 2022, Phillips announced that she and her husband were stepping down as councillors ahead of the May 2023 elections. [21]
In the 2014 European parliamentary election, Phillips stood as a candidate in the South East England constituency. She was second on her party's list after Keith Taylor (Green Party MEP since 2010). [22] [23] In the election, the Green Party won just one seat in South East England which therefore went to Taylor as their first-placed candidate. [24] Phillips worked as Senior Campaigns Coordinator for Green Party MP Caroline Lucas's successful general election campaigns in 2010 and 2015. [25] She supported the United Kingdom remaining within the European Union (EU) in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. [26]
Phillips contested the 2019 European Parliament election in the South East England constituency. This time she was first on her party's list, Taylor having chosen not to seek re-election. [27] In the same constituency, another candidate called Alexandra Phillips also stood as a candidate but for the Brexit Party. [28] In the election, both were elected as MEPs. [29] In the European Parliament, she was a member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, and part of the delegation to the ACP–EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. [2]
Phillips was the Green Party candidate for Brighton Kemptown at the 2019 general election. She finished fourth out of five candidates. [30]
Phillips is married to Tom Druitt, a fellow Green Party Brighton and Hove councillor and managing director of The Big Lemon (a bus and coach operator in Brighton). They both hold shares in the company which has a contract with the city council. [31] They have two children. [32]